Christian Living

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Loitering has been defined by Dictionary .com as
1. to linger aimlessly about a place.
2. to move in a slow,idle manner,making purposeless stops in the course of a trip,journey,errand.
3. to waste time or dawble over a work.
All these definitions,as well as others,point to the fact that loitering must not be associated with any serious minded soul - most especially anyone that claims to be a christian.
Every believer in Christ has a "No Loitering Allowed" sign placed before him/her."Be occupied" is the language of the Bible - the inspired Word of God. Do you wonder why the Scripture is filled with words of encouragement to work? Let us consider five,among others,DANGERS OF LOITERING.
1. Defilement.The devil will never fail to engage any idle hand.Such engagement leads to defilement.Having nothing to do leads to loitering.This was the case with Dinah,the only daughter of Jacob. One day,because she was having nothing to do,she decided to go out "to see" other ladies of a strange land among whom her family were dwelling.As she was lingering aimlessly,the Prince of the land saw her and violated or defile her by having sex with her because she was a virgin as at that time.Genesis 34:1-2.
2.Troubles.Loitering brings troubles not only to the loiterer but to his/her household.After Dinah was treated like an harlot by Prince Shechem,her brother took revenge on the Hivites,Shechem and his people.Jacob lamented that his two sons brought trouble on himg.He was put in fear of being attacked by his neighbours who may want to retaliate.It was the loiterer that started it all! Gen.34:34
3.Other sins.As it is always the case,a sin does not stand or work alone,it attracts and works together with other sins.The sin of loitering resulted in fornication.Not only this,her brothers dealt with the Hivites with deceit.Finally,murder resulted from this.Genesis 34:22,25-26.
4.A curse.Loitering has the danger of bringing curses on the loiterer and others around him/her.Jacob kept quiet on the day that Simon and Levi murdered the people of the land,the Hivites.At the end of his life when he was about die,he pronounced a curse on the two brothers of Dinah,the loiterer.Gen.34:25-26;49:5-7. It must be stated also that Dinah has sown the seed of a curse into her life.In her lineage,there will always be a rapist or a raped woman.
5.Death.Loss of lives is not far from the territory of a loiterer.It is true that "when desire has conceived,it gives birth to sin;and sin,when it is full-grown,it brings forth death."(James1:15).Loitering can lead to the death of the loiterer,members of his/her household and/that of other people.In the case of Dinah,thank God she was not killed.She put the lives of her entire family at risk of death.However,king Hamor,the Hivite,Prince Shechem,his son and their people were not as lucky.They lost their lives because someone loitered and was defiled.Gen 34:25-29.
Therefore as a child of God,give no room for idleness because it is the father of loitering that you may not bring any danger on yourself and those who are around you.Do not loiter in satan's corridor.He will not spare you!
NB All Scripture quotations are from New King James Version.

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